A Fragile Mind
by Anne McSommers
Summary: Chris's memories nightmares finally push his fragile mind over the edge. pg for adult themes no slash or sex
1. And so it begins

Disclaimer: Standard, I don't own the characters and or show, I just manipulate them in my stories.  
  
  
  
Spoilers for Spin City, Chris-Crossed, basically all episodes containing Chris.  
  
  
  
A Fragile Mind  
  
Chapter 1  
  
  
  
Piper was standing in the kitchen making pancakes for breakfast. It was only seven, but even though it was Sunday she still could not bring herself to sleep in. It wasn't like she was really sleeping anyways. Ever since she had found out the Chris was her son she couldn't help but wonder about the future and what was so bad that it made Chris the way he was. Was she really such a bad mother to have one child that was neurotic and the other evil. "It could be worse," she mused to herself "He could have had the same reaction to me as he had to Leo." And what a reaction it had been. Her and her sisters were shocked to find that their usually non-violent white lighter was beating the crap out of his father. Her thoughts were interrupted as her sisters came down for breakfast.  
  
"Mmmmmm, I smell pancakes." said Phoebe as she entered the kitchen wearing her pajamas and a robe. She was followed into the room by her sister Paige, who was also still in her pajama's.   
  
They all settled down and began to eat their breakfast. It was eight o'clock when they finally finished their breakfast, and Phoebe leaned back in her chair rubbing her stomach.  
  
  
  
"Those were the best pancakes I ever had."  
  
  
  
"Which is probably why you ate five of them" said Paige in a teasing tone as they cleared off the table.   
  
  
  
"I would be surprised if there is anything left for Chris at all."  
  
  
  
As Paige said this, Piper stopped what she was doing and looked at her sisters questioningly. "Speaking of Chris, where is her? He hasn't slept past 630 since he moved here, and it is closing in on nine."  
  
  
  
"Don't worry Piper, maybe he became a normal person and decided to sleep on Sundays."  
  
  
  
Piper shook her head slightly, she couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. "I don't know, I think I am going to go and check on him. If he is sleeping I will leave him alone, but with our luck he could have been turned into a demon again."  
  
  
  
Meanwhile upstairs...  
  
  
  
Chris was lying on the bed sleeping when his nightmares began. It had been a long time since he had these nightmares. He could see his mother dying in his arms telling him that she loved him, Bianca dying telling him to go with the wood impaling her stomach, his brother laughing as he began to strangle the life of their cousin Prudence. Then the images changed and his father appeared. It started out with him taunting him in the spidren lair, it soon changed to him on the bridge, then it was him writing the apology letter. How he hated those letters as a child. He used to get them every birthday, holiday, ever cancelled trip. To see him writing one of those letters made him want to cry. The flashback nightmares continued more and more death, family gone and friends dead.   
  
  
  
Suddenly he sat up in a cold sweat. Why had the nightmares had come back? They had been gone for so long. The memories, so painful, so fresh in his mind. Every time he closed his eyes he could see the dead, lying there lifeless. He couldn't take it the memories were overwhelming him. He moved on his bed until he was in the corner. he was beginning to hyperventilate, the memories. Little Prue lying dead at Wyatt's feet. He was hyperventilating now, his knees brought up to his chest. He couldn't take the memories. He began to retreat farther and farther into his mind, trying to hide from the memories. Finally he couldn't see them anymore. They were gone. All he could feel was peacefulness, his consciousness now curled like his body, in a small corner deep in his mind.  
  
  
  
Piper headed up the stairs towards Chris's room. As she continued she felt silly "What if he is just sleeping in. He is a big boy" But still she had a nagging feeling that she just couldn't quite shake. "All else fails I can blame it on the hormones."  
  
  
  
She opens Chris's door and sees him in the corner. "Hey, so you are awake. You'd better get downstairs before Phoebe finishes off the last of the pancakes." When Chris doesn't so much as blink she gets closer.  
  
  
  
"Chris? Sweetie are you alright?" He continues to stare straight ahead at nothing.   
  
Scared she goes up to his bed and tries shaking him "Chris... CHRIS" She say a little louder this time, she is quickly becoming frantic. When he has no reactions, Piper truly begins to panic.  
  
  
  
"PHOEBE, PAIGE...Come up here quickly." Piper yells hysterical.  
  
  
  
Paige and Phoebe run into the room and look around confused. "What's wrong?"  
  
Piper looks up at the, her eyes full of fear "He isn't moving. He's just sitting there staring. Its like he is dead I mean I tried shaking him but he wont move. he wont say anything."   
  
  
  
Paige and Phoebe immediately run to Chris's side to try to wake him. Several attempts to wake him later. Piper is freaking out. "LEO, LEO, we need you. LEOOOOOOO."   
  
  
  
Leo orbs down in a swirl of blue lights. "Piper what's wrong?" he asks when he sees her standing before him panicking. She points towards Chris. "He.... he..." she cant finish before she finally breaks down sobbing. Leo rushes to try and heal Chris and finds though he cannot sense him, he is perfectly healthy.  
  
  
  
"There's nothing wrong with him. He is perfectly healthy." Leo finally answers.  
  
"But, he's, maybe it is a spell or." Piper starts, when she is interrupted by Leo.  
  
"No, it isn't mystical. I can't sense any magical cause, Piper think we should take him to the hospital."  
  
  
  
"I will go call an ambulance." Says Paige getting up. Everyone turns to stare at her. "What, it isn't like we can get him into a van, and if we orb him they are gonna wanna know how he got there."  
  
A half hour later Chris is curled up on a hospital bed, with his family waiting for the doctor to return with the news. The doctor comes in a few minutes later with a few attendants and a stretcher. They prepare to move Chris.  
  
"What are you doing, where are you taking him?" Piper asks still upset.  
  
"We are transferring him to the Psychology ward." Replies the Doctor.  
  
"What, he's not crazy, he must be hurt." Piper says confused at the turn of events.  
  
"Why don't I tell you about his condition while they transfer him."  
  
They go into the doctors office to discuss what's wrong with Chris. "I know you want to know what is wrong with Chris, but the easiest way to say this is that there is nothing wrong with him," The sisters begin in outrage. And he waves his hands as if to silence them.  
  
  
  
"I mean there is nothing physically wrong with him. Chris is in what we call a cationic state. For some reason he has retreated into the deepest recesses of his mind. He doesn't answer or respond to stimuli anymore because he has pulled his consciousness completely from those parts of his mind. It is a defense mechanism some people have that keeps them from completing losing it. Something has happened that made him so upset that he could no longer bear it and retreated into his mind to keep from going all together insane."  
  
"You mean he did this to himself?" Piper asks confused  
  
"Not intentionally, no. Do you have any idea what he could have experienced that would upset him this much.  
  
They all look at one another thinking about the events that transpired in the Spidren's lairs just days ago. He seemed to be dealing with it, but events seemed to have proved that assumption wrong. "He has been under a lot of stress lately, maybe that caused it..." Piper drifted off into thought.  
  
  
  
"How ling until he comes out of this state?" Leo asks concerned for his son, feeling that in same large part that he was responsible for this happening to Chris.   
  
"I have to admit I don't really know. It could be ten minutes, it could be a few weeks. It all depends on him. If it is longer than a day we will start him on intravenous feeding and insert a catheter. Also we have physical therapists which can keep his limbs working. I suggest if you want to help him that you go and sit with him. Though he doesn't respond, on some level he can still hear you and patients of this type usually wake up sooner when family talks to them. "  
  
"Can we go see him now?" Piper asks concerned about her future son  
  
"Yes, he is in room 302."  
  
A few minutes later they are standing outside room 302. Piper turns back to her sisters. "If you guys don't mind, I prefer to go in alone first." her sisters nod sympathetically, Leo gives her hand one last squeeze and Piper walks though the door.  
  
She is heartbroken to see Chris lying on the hospital bed, staring out in front of him, but seeing nothing.  
  
She sits on his bedside, and runs her fingers through his hair. "Oh god Chris, my baby, why didn't you just tell us. We would have been there for you. We love you, I love you." Finally minutes later she kisses him on the forehead and goes to tell her sisters and husband that they can come in.  
  
It was shaping up to be a long night, 


	2. and it continues

Disclaimer in first chapter  
  
A Fragile Mind, Chapter Two  
  
Two days later it seems as if Chris is no closer to waking up then he was when the found him. Piper spent all her free time at the hospital talking to Chris, reading to him. The doctors told her it was highly unusual for a first episode to last this long. It started to make her wonder if his was the first time.   
  
Soon they began talking to psychologist, or they were wondering what happens when he does wake up. Is there anything specific they should do for him or say to him?  
  
"Well, most patients go home immediately after they have been released. Though yes we would prefer to keep them for some psychological testing, we have found the unfamiliar surrounding have a tendency of giving them a relapse. So we send them straight home with orders for them to be checked up on regularly, just keep the person in a familiar environment, with friendly faces. About two weeks after he is discharged, if he has adapted to his environment well we would ask you to bring him in and we could give him some counseling or help so that he could deal with the problems that initially caused this break."  
  
The doctor talked for a few more minutes about Chris's state of health and they decided on a few things, in case he really was in here for a longer period of time, Then they decided it was time to check on Chris.  
  
  
  
"Actually, why don't you guy head to work, you've missed too much recently. I can go stay with Chris." Piper volunteered.   
  
Both sisters protested greatly, but realized that there was no way that they could convince Piper otherwise. Leo was about to offer to stay with her, when he heard the familiar jingle of the elders calling him. He looked at her apologetically and started to say something when Piper held up her hand and said "It's alright, I understand, no go before you're late."  
  
Piper resumed her walk towards Chris's room alone. "It's really sad," she thought to herself "That Chris finally gets the attention he seems to want, and he isn't even conscious enough to know he is getting it." She held back her tears, not wanting to cry.  
  
She entered Chris's room, and sat down by his bedside, in her usual spot. She sat talking to him, and she ran her fingers through his hair. Then she could have sworn she heard him speak. No, it couldn't be, she was just imagining things. The she heard a voice quietly say "Mom?"   
  
She looked down and saw Chris looking up at her confused. "Where am I?" he asked in a childlike voice.  
  
"You're at the hospital." Piper said in a soothing voice, trying not to alarm Chris.   
  
Chris began to sit up confused. "What happened?"  
  
"Well, the other day we went to wake you up and you wouldn't get up."  
  
Chris looks at her and then begins to remember the nightmares, which drove him to his former state. His breathing start to increase in speed. He starts to look around slightly panicked. "I wanna go home." He says sounding like a five year old. He knows he sounds childish, but he cannot help it. He has bad memories of hospitals.  
  
"Okay, well I will get the doctor to come and check you out; we can sign the papers and be home for dinner." Piper says trying to keep him calm.  
  
"No, I wanna go home now. I don't wanna stay here. I have to go home." Say Chris as he begins to walk around the room.  
  
Piper isn't sure what to do; she doesn't want to push him over the edge again. Luckily the doctor chooses that moment to walk into the room. Chris walks up to him. "I wanna go home now." The doctor takes in his disheveled appearance and realizes that sending him home immediately would e the best course of action.  
  
"Of course, now that you are awake you can leave immediately. Just sign these papers and you can go." The doctor said smiling and holding out the papers. Chris quickly signed them and they were on their way.  
  
Chris had arrived at the parking lot a few steps in front of Piper and was looking round confused. "Where's the car?"  
  
Piper smiled "We didn't take the car. We orbed here this morning, and I was planning on waiting on the others to pick me up, when they got off work."  
  
Chris walks over and puts his hand on her shoulder. The next thing Piper sees is them in the manor. Chris starts to walk towards the door when Piper, desperate at this point, calls him back. "Chris," He stops and turns to look at her. "I was going to make dinner if you would like to stay."  
  
Chris appears surprised and then a small smile slowly forms on his face. "Yeah, I'd like that." he says coming back towards her. "What are we having?" He asks.  
  
Piper not really having planned on making anything is at a loss. "Well, I'm not sure. I was going to figure out what everyone wanted and then go out and pick up the groceries, but since their not here... Well what do you want?"  
  
At this point Chris looks a little confused. "What do I want?"  
  
"You know, for dinner? I mean you're the only other one here and besides you haven't eaten in two days, you have to want something."  
  
"Soup" Chris answers  
  
"Soup?" Piper say confused. She was expecting one of a million answers, but soup was not one of them.  
  
"Tomato soup, It's my favorite. I used to eat it all the time when I was little. Mom used to make it." Chris answers still out of it from his two day trip to catatonia.  
  
Piper gives him a strange look, for it was obvious that he was not connecting her with his mother. "Ok then, let's go buy some tomatoes." With that she picked up her coat and headed towards the door. A few seconds later she realized Chris was no longer beside her. He was just standing there looking confused. "Are you coming?" He must have realized what he had been doing so he quickly nodded his head and followed her out the door.  
  
An hour and a half later Chris and Piper were sitting at the able eating tomato soup in silence. Three bowls later it appeared as if Chris was done eating. "You're finally done; I was beginning to wonder if you were going to save any for the others." Piper said in a teasing tone. When Chris didn't immediately reply Piper turned from her dish washing to see what was wrong.  
  
She turned to see Chris sitting at the table, white as a ghost and his fingers clenched on the table top. He looked up his eyes wide. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to eat so much. I didn't realize that there wouldn't be enough for the others. I will go and buy some more tomatoes." Chris hurriedly gets up and begins towards the door.  
  
"Chris wait!" Piper tells him quickly. When he pauses a moment she takes the opportunity and runs towards him. "It's alright, I was just teasing." He looks down, avoiding her eyes.  
  
All she could think of was how horrible a future he must have had that eating too much soup was such a crime. She realizes he is still looking towards his shoes, and she takes his chin in her hand and makes it so he is looking at her face. "It's alright, I promise. They don't even eat tomato soup; I have a pot of Chicken on the stove."   
  
She seems to have gotten through to him because he relaxes a little and no longer tries to look away. He gives her a small embarrassed smile. "That's better." She says smiling. She loops his arm with hers and says "Now let's go watch TV."  
  
They find an old movie on TV, and sit together in silence as they pretend like they care what is happening to James Bond this time. Piper turns to break the silence when she notices s tear running down Chris's face. For a second she isn't going to say something. But then her mothering instincts take over.   
  
She shifts in her seat and moves closer to him until they are sitting side by side. She moves to put her arm around him, and he flinches. This time she tries again slower, and though he tenses up her makes no attempt to flee. She reaches up her other hand and wipes the tear from his face. For a moment their eyes meet and all she can see in their depths is an intense pain and suffering. Not be able to stand seeing her son this way she pulls him tightly into her embrace. He slowly begins to un-tense his body and she hears him hold back a sob.  
  
"It's alright," She tells him soothingly, "Let it out, just let it all out." As she finishes her sentence he begins to sob in earnest. She continues to hold him, rubbing his back and whispering soothingly into his ear as he sobs into her shoulder. About twenty minutes later the sobs reduce to sniffles and Chris stops crying all together. He looks up at Piper his eyes red and puffy from crying and gives her a small smile.  
  
"Well now," she says. "You must be tired, why don't we go on up to bed?"  
  
For a second Chris looks scared, thinking about the nightmares, but seeing the re-assuring look on Pipers face he nods and gets up.  
  
He goes into his room and when he is just sitting down on his bed he hears a knock on the door. "Come in." He says, wondering what Piper is up to now. She walks into the room and says she just came to say good night. They exchange goodnights and he lies down in bed only to have Piper come over and tuck him in and then leave. As he begins to drift of he hears his mother come back in. She leans over and kisses him on the forehead. "I love you Chris." She tells him softly before leaving the room and closing the door behind him  
  
Se loves me he thought to himself. Maybe things aren't so bad after all.  
  
TBC...  
  
AN: I am not quite sure where to go from here. I never quite planned past this. I have a few ideas, but am open to suggestions. Also reviews though not mandatory for continuance of the story, are greatly appreciated. 


	3. and does not end

Disclaimer in Chapter 1  
  
A Fragile Mind, Chapter 3  
  
  
  
After leaving Chris's room Piper headed down the stairs. She arrived at the bottom of the staircase as Phoebe, Paige and Leo orbed in.  
  
"Why didn't you call and tell us the Chris had wakened up?" Phoebe demands angrily.  
  
"Shhhhh," Piper says intending for Phoebe to lower her voice. "He just went to sleep, and I don't intend on waking him up." Phoebe gives Piper a look and opens her mouth to start again when Piper interrupts "Kitchen, Now!"  
  
When they are all in the kitchen and the door is shut Phoebe begins again. "Now, would you mind telling us why you didn't call?"  
  
"I'm sorry, but it wasn't really on my list of priorities. I was more concerned about getting Chris calmed down, and home."  
  
Leo picks up the words calmed down. "He was upset? What happened?" Leo asks concerned about his welfare of his future son.  
  
"When he first woke up in the hospital he was very confused about where he was. He started freaking out, saying he wanted to go home. Thank god the doctor showed up because I had no clue what to do. He orbed us home and then started to leave, and I had to try to keep him here, because the doctor told me not to leave him alone. We had tomato soup for dinner and." Before Piper can finish her sentence Paige interrupts her.  
  
"Tomato soup," She asks "He is in a virtual coma for two days and all you can see fit to make him is tomato soup."  
  
"Yeah, actually I had the same reaction myself. I told him I would make whatever he wanted and he asked for tomato soup. He, He said his mom used to make it for him when he was little. I guess he didn't put two and two together there." Piper stops and takes a breath before continuing.  
  
"Three bowls later I joked about there not being enough for anyone else, and he started to panic about it and was going to go out and buy more tomatoes because he felt bad. I finally got him calmed down about that and we went to watch TV. About an hour into the movie he started crying, and then twenty minutes later I got him calmed down enough to go to bed, and then I came down here. As you can see I didn't exactly get a break where I could call any of you."  
  
Phoebe is looking down, feeling bad for accusing Piper of not calling them. It wasn't her fault. "He started to cry?" Phoebe asks concerned.  
  
"Yeah, it's like he couldn't hold it back anymore. I guess this whole back from the future to save my brother from evil thing, is really starting to get to him.  
  
Jus then a demon shimmered into the middle of the living room. Knocking over a vase in its haste to find its prey  
  
Chris hears the vase shatter, and is out of his bed and half way down the stairs before it occurs to him he could have just orbed. He quickly continues orbing to the kitchen that the demon has just entered.  
  
The demon has the charmed ones and Leo trapped in a corner. Chris can't figure out why they haven't fought back until he sees the tattoo on the demons arm. It is a Tensas demon and it sprays it's toxin on its victims and temporarily takes away their powers. Just as he is about to explode the demon six more arrive to aide it. He sees the latest demons target his mother and his unborn self.   
  
The demons quickly realize that the greater threat is behind them and turn on Chris. The demon throws his energy ball as Piper realizes what's going on "NOOOOO," she yells frantic that Chris is going to be killed. Suddenly Chris flicks his hand and all seven demons are blown up. Unfortunately this happens as the energy ball grazes his shoulder throwing him to the ground.  
  
Piper runs towards her son, with Leo only steps behind her. He puts his hand on Chris and tries to heal him. Nothing happens.   
  
"WHY CAN'T YOU HEAL HIM?" Piper yells upset that he son is hurt.  
  
"I, I don't know."  
  
"Is he going to be alright then?" Piper asks more quietly knowing it is not her husband's fault that their son is hurt.  
  
Leo turns and looks her straight in the eye "If he doesn't get healed within the next six hours he will die.  
  
  
  
AN: Sorry I cut the chapter so short, but I have homework and knew I wouldn't do it if there was a chapter to finish. Sorry about the cliff hanger, but I think we all know what's going to happen next. 


	4. but not for lack of trying

Disclaimer is in the first chapter.  
  
A Fragile Mind, Chapter Four  
  
Fours hour after the attack Leo went to try and heal Chris a second time while the witches tried to find a way to heal him. As Leo brushed his hand over Chris he could feel the warmth emanating from his chest. At this point warmth meant a fever, and a fever is the first sign of an infection.  
  
Leo sat at his son's bedside for a moment running his fingers through Chris's hair. Then Piper came in to relieve his watch. He got up and left the room pausing only a moment to look at his son, and then leaving to go find out why this was happening.  
  
Piper sat in Leo's abandoned space at Chris's bedside. She sat talking to him, eerily reminded of the last few days at the hospital. It could be the end this time. She kept on hoping for another way to heal him, but knew that if there was nothing for them to look up, then the chances of them finding a cure were very small. And the chances of finding one in the next 2 hours even smaller.  
  
Piper was lost in her thoughts and barely noticed Chris awaken. He asked her then "Am I dying?" Piper shocked that Chris was awake after being out so long quickly told him no.  
  
"I won't let you die. I will do anything in my power to stop it." Piper looks at him and realizes that he is hiding something.   
  
"Chris, what is it? Do you know what could stop this" He didn't even have to answer because she could see the answer in his eyes. He knew exactly what was going on and how he could be cured.  
  
"Chris what it?" Chris shook his head in reply, knowing that there was no way he could reveal this about he future.   
  
Suddenly Chris started to sit up, deciding that he was going to get the cure himself. "Chris what the hell are you doing lay back down."  
  
Chris looked at his mother, knowing he was going to need her help to get up to the attic and the cure. "I need to get to the attic. There is a potion their I need, if I drink it, it will heal me. Could you help me up?"  
  
Piper, though believing he should stay in bed, refused to let her son die. If that meant that she had to carry him up to the attic she would. It was a long treacherous climb, but with his mothers help Chris made it to the attic.  
  
When he arrived in the doorway, his father and his aunts stared at him in shock. "What are you doing out of bed?" Phoebe asked concerned. "And why did you help him?" She demanded of Piper angry that her sister was jeopardizing the life of her nephew.  
  
Piper shrugged as Chris staggered towards the cabinet at the other side of the room. "He said there was a potion up here that would cure him, and he wouldn't tell me what it was so I helped him up here."  
  
Everyone turns towards Chris as he begins routing through the cabinet looking for the potion. Finally he finds the one he wants. He sees two identical bottles and knows that one would kill him and the others would save him. Then he remembered something his mother told him as a child "The ones too the left do something, and the ones on the right undo the ones on the left." Hoping that she had used that philosophy now he downed the one on the right.   
  
The others watched as a golden glow enveloped Chris he floated of the ground for a moment his wound closing in a flash of golden-blue light. In a second the light was gone and he fell to the ground unconscious.   
  
Leo rushed over to see if he was alive only to find that he was sleeping, his injury gone. After telling the sisters that he was all right Leo orbed Chris into the bedroom to sleep. Tucking him in and saying goodnight.   
  
Leo returned to the attic only to see Paige standing with a potion bottle in her hand looking confused. Her sisters asked what was wrong.  
  
"I decided too see which potion it was that cured Chris, and I only found one potion missing. The counterpart to this one."  
  
"Well," Piper asked. "What's that one?"   
  
"This," Paige said "is the blocking potion we made up in case we had to bind Wyatt's powers, so the one Chris took was this's un-blocking potion."  
  
"What?" Piper exclaims.  
  
"That means that we must have used this potions to block Chris's powers in the future." Paige explains. "It's the only way this would have had any effect whatsoever."  
  
  
  
"Yeah, but I think we are all forgetting one thing here. Chris has powers. He orbs, goes invisible (*AN, I think he does) and has telekinesis." Butts in Phoebe.  
  
  
  
Piper turns to Leo. "How could he have powers if we bound them?"  
  
  
  
"The only way he could have powers was if the binding potion wasn't strong enough to contain them. But this is Wyatt's potion so that would mean..." Leo said drifting off as the implication set in.  
  
"That would mean that he was more powerful than Wyatt." Piper finished.  
  
  
  
  
  
AN: Sorry about the gap between chapters, but it is finals time. 


	5. and it fails once again

Disclaimer in Chapter 1  
  
A Fragile Mind, Chapter 5  
  
When Chris woke up the first ting he noticed was the fact that he was not in his bed. The second thing he noticed was the slight tingly feeling under his skin. A moment later he remembered the events of the night before. This what it must feel like when he has all his powers. He only hoped that no one figured out what potion he took, or what it meant.  
  
He had always known he was different than Wyatt, but he had always believed that that meant he was because he had no powers. He later found out his powers had be bound, but the fact they were so easily bound made him believe his power was weak. He only realized his true powers when he was fourteen and his mother was killed. When he realized that she was dead and that neither his father nor brother cared enough to come and save her, he flipped. In his rage a small amount of his powers came through blowing up the demon that killed his mother. In the months that followed more and more of his powers showed up. Leo knowing nothing of his sons life, did not know that Chris's powers had ever been bound, and Wyatt figured his mom unbound them before she died,  
  
Thinking about his powers he could picture his mom lying their dying. He called for his dad and he never came. He always came when Wyatt called him. He began to retreat into his mind when he was shocked back to reality by a sudden clap of thunder. In the last few seconds a storm had come out of no where. Chris was reminded of how his mother reacted after Leo left, with the rain covering the city. Maybe this was one of his powers.  
  
He concentrated on one of his happy memories. Him and mom making oatmeal raisin cookies, while waiting for the others to come home. It didn't matter that everyone else in the house hated the cookies, Piper made them just because Chris liked them. Baking was one of the things Chris had missed most upon coming to the past. He loved to cook, and he didn't think he was going to be allowed in the kitchen anytime soon. They were all too concerned he was going to have a mental relapse.   
  
It wasn't the first time he went catatonic, and it probably would not be the last time. It happened every time he let himself remember his past, or whenever he had a nightmare of what had come to pass. It was all too painful for him to bear. He figured that it was better to retreat into his mind than to completely lose it all together.   
  
His parents seemed concerned along with his aunts. His parents, it seemed so long since he had said that. After his mother died, he never said anything about her again. He just wanted to forget the look on her face as she died. How she smiled and told him how much she loved him and was proud of him. She had even told him where the unbinding potion was, but unlike Chris did not know about the cabinet's destruction. How he missed her.  
  
His father kept hounding him to try to get him to talk about what happened to them in the future. He would not leave Chris alone. Chris laughed at the irony of the situation. If Leo had been there to talk in the future, he wouldn't be mad at him in the first place. For some reason Leo thought Chris hated him. He didn't know how much Chris wanted to tell him what he asked. "No," He muttered under his breath. "Can't get close, he'll forget and then I will be all alone again. It's better this way." Chris had been lying in bed a half-hour think when he finally decided it was time to go downstairs and face the music. He only hoped that they hadn't figured out his secret.  
  
Meanwhile Piper, Paige, Phoebe and Leo were *gasp* discussing his secret. They stopped suddenly when they saw Leo hold up his hand. "Shhh, I think I hear someone moving upstairs. It might be Chris."  
  
They all sat at the table unmoving. Then a few moments later Chris walked into the kitchen half asleep. They all watched as he put on a pot of coffee and started to make himself some eggs. Piper was about to say something when she stopped to watch him cook his eggs. He was now throwing spices into his eggs, a little of everything and of varied amounts. He appeared to be throwing in random ingredients. But Piper knew better. This is how she cooked, knowing instinctively when and how much spice to put in. A few minutes later the coffee was done as well as his eggs and he sat down at the table and began to eat.  
  
Everyone started at him as he sat drinking his coffee and eating his eggs. Finally he looked up. "Is there something you would like to say, or do you just enjoy watching people chew their food?" He asked with a sarcastic undertone.  
  
The all looked away startled. They had not realized they were watching him. Seeing them look away Chris knew something was up. He immediately began running through the options and then realized that they must know about the potion. He began to panic only to realize there was no need. All he had to do was play it cool and act like he didn't realize they knew and they may not even try to bring it up. Well at least not if he was lucky. But he knew one thing for certain, he usually wasn't lucky.  
  
No one tried to say anything about it all day. On the contrary they seemed to be going out of their way to avoid any sentence including the words Wyatt, Power or Potion. He realized only after Piper walked in and out of the room for no reason, for the fifth time, that they were trying not to upset him. They must have thought that if he was confronted with something of this magnitude that he would revert back into his head. If only they knew that he not only knew of his power, that he knew they knew and was just waiting on them to bring it up.  
  
A few hours later Chris smelt the smell of baking cookies from the Kitchen. He waited but after a half-hour he couldn't stand it. One thing he could not resist was a batch of freshly baked homemade cookies. He walked into the kitchen to see the rest of his family sitting around the table with the cookies. There was a large plate of Chocolate Chip cookies and a small one with a dozen or so Oatmeal raisin. "Mmmmm," He thought. "Oatmeal raisin cookies." They had always been his favorite kind of cookies.   
  
"Hello Chris." His mother said taking another batch of cookies. "I thought you agreed to spend the day relaxing on the couch. What are you doing up?" His mother asked reprimandingly.  
  
The were all surprised to see Chris look a little embarrassed as he looked down at his feet. He looked up at the inquiring faces and said "I smelt cookies."  
  
They all froze for a second confused, and then began laughing. "Well if that's the reason your up take a couple and lay back down."  
  
Chris smiled still embarrassed, and walked up to the table to get some cookies. He got a small plate and put three cookies on his plate. He looked up to realize that once again everyone was staring at him confused. "What?" He asked growing confused himself.  
  
Piper was the one who answered his question. "You took an oatmeal raisin cookie." He looks at her still not understanding. "You didn't take a chocolate chip." He continues still surprised.  
  
Chris is now thoroughly confused. "Oatmeal Raisin is my favorite. Was I supposed to eat the chocolate chip ones?" He inquired, trying to figure out why his choice of cookies was such a big deal. Piper shook his head and then he left the room.  
  
Piper turned to her sisters "He ate the oatmeal raisin, they're his favorites. I though I was the only one who like those cookies."  
  
"Well," Said Paige, who like everyone else in the room thought chocolate chip cookies their favorite. "I guess your son inherited your bad taste in cookies."  
  
Meanwhile Chris is sitting on the couch confused. It was just a cookie type. Then he remembered that him and his mother were the only ones who liked chocolate chip cookies. No wonder they were surprised, even Wyatt preferred Chocolate Chip.  
  
After this revelation Chris decided that he should bring up the power issue. He realized after the cookie incident that they were never going to bring it up. Hell, they couldn't even bring up why he liked oatmeal cookies.   
  
He called everyone one into the room, bracing himself for their reactions. When they were all settled Piper asks him why he called.  
  
"When exactly were you planning on telling me that you knew what the potion was?" He asked.  
  
They all stared at him in shock. How did he know they knew, did he know about his powerfulness? They all started at him saying nothing.  
  
Chris started to panic. Out of all the reactions he had thought of, he never anticipated this. He couldn't take their silence and began to orb out.  
  
Seconds too late Piper realized that he had begun to panic, but before she could say anything he orbed out. They all looked at each other in horror. They had scared him, last time he got scared he was catatonic. They began searching for him hoping their luck would hold and they would fund him before something happened, but they were about as lucky as Chris was...  
  
AN: Thnx to everybody for all the great reviews, I really appreciate it. I don't write when I don't get reviews. Not because I am one of those people who needs ten reviews before they post another chapter, but because I forget to wrote. So keep the reviews coming. Even just to tell me how long it has been since I posted my last chapter. 


	6. and alas it finally succeeds

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own these characters; I only mess with their lives.  
  
A Fragile Mind, Chapter 6  
  
Chris had orbed himself to a cave on the side of a mountain in Peru. It was a place where he used to go as a teenager whenever he wanted to get away from it all. He had expected a lot of reactions when he told them that he knew, but he hadn't counted on silenced. Silence was the one thing that he had never been able to take; he could never get past the silence. Silence was what had happened when his mother had died. No one wanted to say anything to him, no one could accept the fact that she was dead and it was his fault. If he had the ability to heal she would have lived. He could have saved her. His father had said as much to his face when he first arrived at the scene. After that it was silence.  
  
His father had never been around as he was a child, and had never taken the time he had taken with Wyatt to be with him. It was one of the reasons he had never learned to heal. He had always waited for his father to teach him, thinking that it would give his father a reason to come and spend time with him. The problem was that he never did. Then his mother died, by that time it was too late. He had waited so long his power had atrophied, and as a result he would watch many members of his family die because he could save them.  
  
Suddenly the memories of his aunts lying dead on the floor flashed into his mind, his baby cousin Prue, dead. She had barely reached age five and there she was dead on the floor. Wyatt had killed her. Next was the memory of his father standing there looking at him, blaming him for a death he couldn't have prevented?   
  
As he began to think about his memories of the past he began to once again slip into the darkest recesses of his mind. Only this time he could not even find solace there. No matter how hard he tried he could not escape the memories. His mind whirled with guilt and confusion and the wind outside picked up in speed. As his tears began fall so did the rain in torrents. He did not know that as his emotions spun out of control it was not only affecting himself, but the weather around him. Not only that, but it was affecting the weather all around the world.   
  
Paige sat crying for Chris as Phoebe tried to write a spell to summon Chris. Piper looked out the window surprised to see the horrible weather when it was sunny just moments ago. She couldn't help but feel guilty for the way she had treated Chris in the past. Accusing him of being evil and out to get them. She had treated him like crap, and he still kept on trying to save them all. It was her fault Chris was in the condition he was now. She had bound his powers; she had made the mistakes in the future that would make the world so bad that her son was borderline neurotic. Although deep down she knew it was Wyatt's own decisions that turned him evil, she still couldn't help but feel guilty for letting him do this to Chris.  
  
"Looks like quite a storm is brewing out there." Said Leo coming up behind her with Wyatt. Piper doesn't answer continuing to stare out the window. "Piper, it isn't your fault. None of us knew that Chris would panic; I mean he brought the subject up. It wasn't the other way around."  
  
She stood with her back still too him. "I know, but still I can't help but think that something I have done in the future did this. We bound his powers; we swore we would never do that. It's just…" She trailed off not able to express the frustration she felt.  
  
Phoebe walked over to them. "Yeah, I can't get a thing scrying for Chris, I." She stopped mid sentence when she looked out the window and saw the storm brewing. "Holy shit, that's one hell of a storm, I haven't seen one this bad since you lost it after." Phoebe trailed off figuring that her brining up Leo's leaving wouldn't be the best thing to bring up at a time like this. But by the smile on Pipers face is appeared to be.  
  
"THAT'S IT" Piper yelled. The others in the room stared at Piper as if she were insane. Finally Leo asked her. "What's it?"  
  
"The storm's it. When I got really upset I created those storms. It was a one time deal, but in theory if I got upset enough again I could do it. Chris just got his full powers and now we've upset him. Maybe not to the same extent I was, but with his power boost it might not take as much. Changing the weather may be one of his powers. So we should be able to find some way to track the power right?"   
  
Now knowing Piper wasn't completely insane they began to follow her train of thought. It was Paige who solved the Problem. "Well, if we use the theory that this is Chris, it would make sense the farther away we got from Chris, the more diffused his powers would be. So to find Chris we need to find where the strongest of the storms are. Therefore I suggest we watch the weather channel."  
  
Though it wasn't the best of plans it was the best they had, and it was better than nothing. So they all crowded onto the couch around the TV, to watch where the brunt of the weather would appear.   
  
15 minutes it was clear that the situation was far worse than they had originally anticipated. The weather wasn't focused anywhere near them, rather it was focused in South America, Peru to be specific. But that didn't mean their original assumption was wrong, the weather did get worse as you neared Chris's location. Focused on the tallest mountain was a super storm, a tornado that was beyond the scale of the five class rating system. There was basketball sized hail that rained down as lightning set the surrounding area ablaze. It was pure unadulterated Chaos.   
  
Now that they realized the severity of it all, they knew that they had to act fast. It wasn't just for Chris anymore; it was for the innocent people that were dying. Leo orbed them to the mountain and they watched in horror as they became swept up in the storm. They knew they were going to die and then suddenly it stopped. The storm was gone, the sun was shining and they were standing at the bottom of the peaceful mountain.  
  
The sisters looked at each other in confusion. "The only way he could have stopped that is if he got his emotions in check, and I find it hard to believe he did that so quickly." Piper said confused. Suddenly Paige's eyes widened in horror as she realized the other, more likely possibility. "Or if he was dead." She said, bringing her revelation to light. They immediately orbed to Chris's location.   
  
They were horrified at the sight that presented it's self. Chris was lying at the other end of the cave in a pool of his own blood, his wrists cut open. They ran to him and Leo and Paige tried to heal him. But it was too late for that. Chris was already gone. Paige clasped Phoebe's hand to stop from falling over, and Pipers and in attempt to console her sister. With her other arm, Piper held onto Leo and as Leo touched Chris's face they were thrown violently into a premonition.   
  
But they soon realized it was not a premonition at all, it was Chris's life.   
  
They stood there watching the silence when his Piper had died, felt his anguish. No one wanted to say anything to him, no one could accept the fact that she was dead and it was his fault. They watched knowing if he had, had the ability to heal she would have lived. He could have saved her. They heard Leo say as much to his face when he first arrived at the scene. After that it was silence.  
  
They saw Leo never there as he was a child, and had never taken the time he had taken with Wyatt to be with him. They saw it was one of the reasons he had never learned to heal. He was always waiting for his father to teach him, thinking that it would give his father a reason to come and spend time with him. The problem was that he never did. Then Piper died, by that time it was too late. They found out he had waited so long his power had atrophied, and as a result he would watch many members of his family die because he could not save them.  
  
Suddenly the memories of his aunts lying dead on the floor flashed into his mind, his baby cousin Prue, dead. She had barely reached age five and there she was dead on the floor. They watched in horror as his life played over and him not being taken care of, not shown the same love as his brother, and still he had came back to save him.  
  
When the vision ended they collapsed to the cave floor crying. Phoebe and Paige for the nephew they had lost, and Piper and Leo for the son whom though they ignored, died in the past trying to save the future. Each of them not saying a thing, but each making a silent vow for Chris, This would never happen again.  
  
The End  
  
AN: Finally I post the last chapter. There may be an epilogue with everyone's thoughts following Chris's death, but probably not for a while. I am also very sorry that I killed him; I really did not intend to, it just sort of happened. Well at least it had closure. 


End file.
